Category Archives: Grade 8

Comedy was one of the most popular and influential theaters during the 6th century BCE across ancient Greece. Performances were often movement and verbal performances. They would perform comical tragedies to intrigue the audience with emotion while still also making them laugh. They would often have stereotypical roles such as a hero, maiden, a jealous man, and an evil villain. Aristophanes and Menander had the most famous playwrights of the time work consisted of poking fun at politicians, philosophers, and other fellow artists. At the same time, they were able to give insight to Greek society including, institutions and religion etc. Although we do not know precisely about the origins of Greek comedy, the first indication of comedy was on a pottery piece from 6th century BCE.

2. Medieval Comics (Court Jesters from the Middle Ages)

The Medieval entertainers of the Middle Ages included Jesters (A fool or buffoon at medieval courts), Mummers (Masked or costumed merrymaker or dancers at festivals), Minstrels and Troubadours, acrobats and jugglers and conjurers. The jester would be a master in juggling, singing, dancing, acrobatic feats, mimicking, voice tricks (including some ventriloquism), all round joke telling, or any combination thereof. A medieval mummer possessed the skills of acting in plays, this included skills such as acrobatics, singing, mimicry, and other kinds of entertainment. Most commonly, medieval mummers performed in open spaces where a stage could be set for the performers. Mummering parties were sometimes also held by nobles and monarchs in which case the plays took place indoors.

3. Renaissance Comics (Commedia dell Arte, Shakespearean plays etc)

During the Renaissance, comedy meant something different from what it currently means today. People think of modern comedies as funny, but comedy in the Renaissance meant a play with a happy ending. Many plays included some type of irony. Though comedies do not have to be funny, they had the potential to be. Characters in Shakespeare’s comedies sometimes embarrass themselves during the play. Shakespeare comics were the iconic plays of this time period. Shakespearean comedies would usually be made up by a conflict, which would be solved at the end. These could be funny, but were more about being resolved with a happy ending.

4. Melodramatic Comics

Melodrama was the primary form of theater during the 19th century however it is still popular to this day. In the early 1800’s most were romantic, exotic, or supernatural. In the 1830’s they became more elevated as a “gentlemanly” melodrama. Melodrama is a type of narrative in which the over-dramatic plot-line is designed to play on people’s emotions. They often use overexaggerated stereotypical characters and plot lines.

A typical story includes:

A hero, who is moral, handsome and manly.

A heroine, who is also beautiful but likely needed saving (helpless).

A villain, who is evil. These characters are often dishonest, greedy, vengeful and corrupt.

A villain’s accomplice, who is usually rather idiotic and serves as comic relief.

5. Cinematic Comics

A silent film is a film which consists of only the picture, that is, it has no sound. Because they told stories without words, in the beginning of 1890’s in the earliest of American Film history, they were appealed to the illiterate immigrant population in the United States. Showings of silent films usually were not actually silent: they were commonly accompanied by live music. Early in the development of the motion picture industry, it was learned that music was an essential part of any movie, as it gave the audience emotional cues for the action taking place on the screen. Small town and neighborhood movie theaters usually had a pianist accompany the film. Large city theaters would have an entire orchestra. The silent films required a greater emphasis on body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what an actor was feeling and portray it on screen.

I think I worked well with my group as we were the first group to finish and we were on track almost the entire time. We communicated well in the making of the script by not only sharing our ideas but also listening to others when they shared their idea.

Hola: Group ConversationEnglish

This year in English, I have been doing an okay job, however there are many things I am hoping to improve. I would like to work on my communication as my worst criteria is criteria d. I am hoping to increase both my vocabulary and my grammar by reading more books or listening more in class.

Math has been my strongest subject this year. I used what I learned in class and what I had learned previously from school and home to use this semester. I would like to continue working hard and asking questions when necessary to improve both my grade and inquire my curiosity.

I think I organised my time well in this subject as unlike other projects, I had spread my work load over a long period of time. I believe this is a good habit and I would like to continue this habit for the rest of my school life.

Criteria A Notebook

Drama:

Because we had a lot of freedom to do what we want in the time given to us, it was important for me to stay on task. This is where my self management skills came to play. I had to make sure to finish my work without getting off track.

Although in the end I ended up with an okay final product, I believe if I had organised my time more efficiently, I would have been able to create a more finished product. I did not properly plan my animation so I would be able to finish so that is what I will try to improve in the coming semester.

For this investigation we had to write up a report for the experiment and to write a report, we had to have background information on the topic. This is where the research skills were used. We searched for reliable resources to use for the hypothesis and conclusion.

In this project, I was proud of my research skill as I was able to collect the needed information from reliable sources such as UNICEF, WHO etc. I was able to research efficiently and I would like to continue this throughout the rest of the year.

For this project, I had to write a speech with my group about what we had learned. I think I did pretty well in this speech as I had done my proper research I needed in order to write a well worded and well thought out speech.

Math has been my strongest subject this year. I used what I learned in class and what I had learned previously from school and home to use this semester. I would like to continue working hard and asking questions when necessary to improve both my grade and inquire my curiosity.

In this unit, we created our own pop song using a bass line, a melody, and harmony. We learned about triads and inversions in the beginning of the unit and worked on our song in the rest. I was in a group with William and Jan for the pop song. We created an introduction however because that didn’t work as planned, we struggled with continuing the song. Although in the end, we were able to finish it on time.

Triads are set of three notes that can be stacked in thirds. From the bottom, the notes are called root, third, and fifth. These notes are chosen from a certain scale. For example for the c triad, the c scale is used and all the notes used are from the scale. For the chords, we used the c, f, g and a minor triads.

I think my strongest skill in this project was collaboration. My group and I communicated our ideas well and worked well together. However, one major factor that could be improved was staying on task. Because we worked so well together, often times the conversation would get off track and we wouldn’t be productive as intended.

Before in the 1930’s there used to be a huge difference between Japan and Saudi Arabia, Japan leading in most indicators such as Infant Mortality Rate, GDP per capita, Human Development Index (HDI), Life expectancy and Literacy Rate. But after Saudi Arabia discovered it’s oil and started trading with more countries, the economy and the whole country developed. A price improvement around 1980 during the Iran-Iraq War brought Saudi Arabia to what has been its economic peak (in terms of per capita income).

HDI and life expectancy

HDI affects life expectancy as the better the HDI, the safer and cleaner place is and people live longer. Here it clearly shows that the HDI and life expectancy rate has a strong connection and effects both in a positive manner. The higher the HDI is the higher the life expectancy was. Although now Saudi Arabia is now where Japan used to be in 1980, looking at the straight upwards line Saudi Arabia is following, it is very possible for them to catch up to us or keep following in Japan’s footsteps until Japan’s development steadies and Saudi Arabia catches up.

Child mortality rate and child fertility rate

Child morality and child fertility rate are as child morality is how many kids are born and child fertility is annual number of births per thousand population, basically measuring how large the families are. Between 1980 and 2011 the change in Saudi Arabia was drastic. The total fertility only 35 years ago was around 7 is now decreased to 2.5 and the child morality used to be around 100 is now lowered to 9. A huge improvement in development is seen during this time in Saudi Arabia. Although Japan doesn’t have as big of an improvement as Saudi, Japan had an bump of improvement from around 1985 to 1890.

GDP per capita and infant mortality

GDP influences infant mortality rate as the richer the country is, in most cases the better the lifes of the people are. Making it a better place to live and less kids die as it is safer, cleaner, and over all better. Japan moves in a circle but in the end the trend is that both lines goes up. In the beginning during the world war 2 where Japan participated, there is no pattern. Saudi Arabia from half way goes up and continues o grow to this day.

I believe I could do better on improving my facial expression and making it more appropriate for the situation. For example, when it was a serious situation, my face showed a hint of a smile. Because of my status, I could be more bossy or stuck up. My attitude was less serious and less moody as mentioned in his character identity kit. But overall, although there are many things I could improve on, I think the performance was good.

My crying was pretty realistic and the change of character from the beginning to the middle to the end is drastic. I act all high and mighty in the beginning, but during the middle I break down because of the stress. My character pretends to be powerful and heartless but during the skit, the audience finds out the character is just as insecure and venerable as the others.

I think I could improve on staying on task during practise as when I’m in a group with my friends we get distracted and side tracked often. To prevent this I will try to keep in mind our goal for the day to accomplish something and remind them that we need to stay on task. But over all, the unit was very fun and we learned how t act as characters with status.

I am looking forward to basically everything except for the fact that I won’t be able to see my dog for a week. I am looking forward to being with all my friends and finally being able to talk to them more as most of my very good friends are in different classes. But all the outdoor activities seem very fun and I am excited to do them. I’m not very scared of all the activities unlike some people and I think it will be a great experience; being able to try new things. I am also not very opposed to getting our phones taken away as I also think it’ll be a great experience for some and could teach us new things.

After:

Field studies was amazing, we made so many new memories and the all activities made us challenge our selfs. We tested our selfs everyday, and expanded our comfort zone. One of the activities we did was the team building exercise. It was challenging because I didn’t know all the people in my group and I felt kind of out of place, but in the end we had something to relate on and we were able to bond over that. We can use the skills we learnt in this exercise in real life in situations such as meeting new people or going to a new school. My favourite activity was the canyoning as it was the most thrilling. We jumped off cliffs, slid down water falls and swam in freezing water. We learned that over coming our fears was important.

A stereotype is a oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person. They are often portrayed inaccurately and are oversimplified versions of a certain group of people. A famous and commonly used example for a stereo type is that cheerleaders are stuck up girls, and have no depth in them. These labels for certain groups of people can be negative or positive, portrayed often as cliche characters. These characters have no originality or uniqueness as they are created from a mold.

When is a stereotype useful?

Stereotypes are often seen as negative in today’s world. However, they are helpful in guiding us and shaping our attitudes and behaviors toward other peoples, races, and cultures. They provide us with conscious awareness of differences and the need to understand that different norms and values exist regardless of our assumption of the common. In this way, we eventually learn to be anticipative in social interaction and communication and consciously seek to verify our beliefs regarding others.

Considering people & characters that represent people – why can’t you ‘judge a book by it’s cover’?

Although these stereotypes are in some cases true, categorising every person in the group to be the exact same person and have the exact same personality is just impossible. Every person is different and although some may look the same on the outside, every single human being on this planet is different in their own way, both positively and negatively. They all have different stories that their appearances may not tell, just as if you’re in a public area you don’t know what is going on in their life.